The time has finally come. No more safety net, no take backs. Welcome to the new Gamers With Jobs! There's still some question of whether or not the site will crumple under its own weight once more traffic starts streaming in, but so far it's been ticking along pretty well. Despite the sword dangling over our collective heads, I'd say we're optimistic.

We are experiencing sporadic bouts of sluggishness when loading pages, but Jeff is working hard to nail down any lingering speed bumps. If you spot any major problems or anything that might help us optimize the site, do let us know! Also note that it may take a day or two for gamerswithjobs.com to move over to the new server space. Until that happens, some images (like the Conference Call and articles) may not appear on the site.

We're very close to launching the new site now! Thanks to your help with the last round of testing, some major performance issues have been hammered out. Now all we need is another good wave of traffic to see how the database handles the load after the changes.

http://65.19.178.14/

Please hit the site, login and post random things. If it goes well, the way should be clear to a proper launch! Don't worry, it's completely seperate from this live site.

Every time we ask you guys to pop onto the new site and test things out, poor Jeff gets beats up by all of your awesome bug reports and usability issues. He's like Little Mac in the Punch Out series.

"Come on Jeff! Get off the mat! You can do it!"

It usually takes a few weeks, but he always gets up eventually. Stronger than ever? A broken man? Who cares, we have work to do!

http://65.19.178.14/

Please login to the new site and get to beating on it. It's seperate from this live site completely, so don't worry about any cross-pollination. Make any bug reports or other weirdness over on that page.

Apologies, everyone. The Skype servers have completely gone south, leaving us all in the cold. We'll have to try it again next week, this time with a different platform and yet more testing. Curses!

This Saturday we'll be recording the GWJ Conference Call Live via Skypecast! We'll have a live text chat through Skype and we'll also be bringing on listeners to chat with us as part of the show. Skypecast is in beta, so I can't promise it won't be a complete train wreck, but I bet it'll be a fun one!

You will need a couple things if you plan to join the party at 7PM CST on Saturday night.

1) Download and install the latest Skype. It's a good idea to uninstall your previous version first. You'll need a Skype (free) account if you don't have one.

2) Test your Mic! In Skype, go to Tools - Audio Settings and see how your levels look. Uncheck "Let Skype adjust my audio settings" and make sure your audio output seems to spike in the middle or a bit more.

3) Keep an eye on this space for a link to the text chat once the show starts. To launch the Skypecast, simply click this link. Don't worry, you can be running both at once

That's it! If you can't make the show, we'll still be releasing the recording on Wednesday as usual so don't worry!

It's that time again! We're feature locked on the new site design and the wonderful Jeff Beeman has worked his magic and fixed a ton of bugs. We're very close to launch, so please hit the new site design with everything you got so we can make sure things will go smoothly.

http://65.19.178.14/

And no, posts made there will not show up here. Don't worry.

One of my favorite pleasures is getting to kick off each new year with a virtual birthday party of sorts. Launched on January 15, 2003, I am happy to announce that Gamerswithjobs.com has just turned a rambunctious five years old.

It feels like one of the milestones birthdays, a threshold crossed where we can say with some confidence that the site has carved a niche into the gaming media landscape. Each year our voice grows stronger, and though we've been slow and methodical about growing the site, like an old man wearing a hat riding the brake in the fast lane, we are no longer exactly small anymore. The result is a site I'm proud of; one with excellent writers, a vibrant community, diverse content and a respected reputation.

Happy five, GWJ!

As many of you have noticed, we've tried launching a new design for Gamers With Jobs a couple times in the past few weeks. We hit a few snags under the load of our usual daily traffic, so Jeff has made some tweaks and hosted the site on a different server so we can diagnose things and see if the changes stick before we go live.

If you'd like to help, head over to http://65.19.178.14/ and login as usual.

Make posts, try and get into places you shouldn't be and test, test test! We'll have a thread on the front page over there for any bugs you find, performance observations or obvious missing features. This particular post is locked, so direct any comments you have at the new site and thanks for pitching in!

Some of you may have seen the new Gamers With Jobs site design up for a brief time the last couple nights. We're close to having it nailed down, but there are a few database issues that continue to plague us. We'll launch as soon as we can, sorry for all the ups and downs.

In the mean time, feel free to send doogiemac cookies and milk for all his hard work on getting this rolling.

*Update* With the holidays fast approaching, you'll be safe from another round of insanity until (at earliest) next week some time. Have a good weekend!

The 2007 Gamers With Jobs drive is over and we can't thank you guys enough for all your support. We're humbled by your dedication to the site and the community it holds, we're going to work out butts off as usual to bring you the best we have to offer every week. But enough talk, it's time to announce the winners of the drive! It was with great anticipation we drew the names during the 50th Gamers With Jobs Conference Call as Ken Levine looked on.

Congrats gentlemen! Please PM Elysium or email elysium@gamerswithjobs.com your choice and your mailing address and we'll get those prizes on the way! There's more winners yet, folks. Read on for who get the first choice of the awesome remaining prizes!

Every year we come to you for two weeks asking for your contributions in helping us continue operating Gamerswithjobs.com, and we hope that the service, content and community we provide throughout the year justifies the request. We take great efforts to make GWJ an uncommon home, even a safe haven, on the internet where we can talk without suffering the usual antics that become so tedious elsewhere. We provide you with articles by talented writers, discover and cultivate new talent and bring you the quality of written word that is sought by the most respected publications in the industry. We bring you a weekly podcast with increasing quality of on-site reports from places like Gencon and Comicon as well as interviews and special guests discussing the finer points of the gaming industry. We run game servers, organize community events, strictly moderate our forums and make constant and consistent effort to create an adult environment for adult gamers. So, we come along once a year, for two weeks, and ask for whatever contribution you think Gamerswithjobs.com is worth. Oh, and we give away prizes too.

So, enough of why you should support GWJ, and on to what you will get by supporting GWJ. We have quite a bit to giveaway this year, but our Grand Prize is up to you. This year, you pick your grandprize from the following choice:

Grand Prize: An Xbox 360 - OR - A Playstation 3 - OR - A Nintendo Wii - OR - A GeForce 8800 GTS

You Must Read On For How To Enter And Win! Every donation of $10 or more to the drive is an entry into the giveaway, so if you'd like to contribute click the Paypal link on your left or send your donation by Paypal to Elysium@gamerswithjobs.com. You can also send a check to:

GWJ Donation Drive
Attn: Sean Sands
PO Box 177
Savage, MN 55378

Again, please read on for how to make sure your name is entered into the prize drawing and the rest of the prizes!